Fresh is best

As a food addict l need food that is fantastic. I need food that gives me all the flavour and excitement that l need from the fewest calories and nutrient dense as possible. One way l have done this is by growing my own veggies, fruit and herbs. I am a huge advocate for grow your own. Not only does it keep my hands busy, it's a physical activity as well and my whole family enjoys the activity.

We are now in spring people, and this is the best time of year to grow. If you have limited space you can grow your herbs in small pots. For the price you pay at the supermarket for a bunch of herbs you can spend the same amount to have a small pot. The benefits of growing herbs inside also means the plants help clean the air. All you need is a few small pots, if you are really tight for cash ask some of your friends for their empty pots after they have planted in their garden or go to a big landscaping mob and ask them for theirs, a small bag of potting mix and a few small seedlings of herbs. I prefer growing from seed, but it is easier for the novice to start with seedlings.

Make sure the pot gets enough sun, enough water a some fresh air and within a few weeks you have your own fresh herbs on hand whenever you need it. If you have space in your garden why not put some veggies in amongst your other plants. Why not grow your own salad. In my own garden l have three types of lettuce, tomatoes (not ready for picking yet), carrots, beetroot (l use the leaves more than anything else in my salads) and l have put in cucumber seeds and l have two avocado trees growing but l don't except a crop for another year or two. There is nothing better than going out into the sun and grabbing a few salad items to have for lunch or dinner. It tastes ten times better (sometimes just because you want it to because you grew it) and it is better for you.

So why not start getting reconnected to our food cycle. We have all become mindless consumers eating what the advertising companies dictate to us. Getting bigger in the mean time. Look on the packet next time you eat something like a mars bars and see what are the ingredients, do you really know what all those things are and what they do to you? Remember when smoking was not considered dangerous and dentist use to prescribe a packet for a tooth ache? We now know what effects smoking has. So do you really want to know what effect all those numbers are having on you? All l know is that l want to take some responsibility back on feeding myself and that includes trying to go back to growing as much as l can at home and using very base ingredients like flour, milk, eggs etc.. to create my own meals not buying ready made which have ingredient number this and emulsifier that.